Essex Financial Services Inc. Acquires 282 Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)

Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,513 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Philip Morris International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 158.0% in the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 454 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut Philip Morris International from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $86.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Societe Generale upgraded Philip Morris International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $87.50 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Philip Morris International from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.50.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

Philip Morris International stock opened at $96.04 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.25. The company has a market cap of $149.30 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.60. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.23 and a fifty-two week high of $100.70.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $8.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.26% and a net margin of 8.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.41%. Philip Morris International’s payout ratio is 101.56%.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In other news, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total value of $457,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 102,918 shares in the company, valued at $9,412,880.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Philip Morris International news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.42, for a total transaction of $1,928,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 178,447 shares in the company, valued at $17,205,859.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Werner Barth sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.46, for a total value of $457,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 102,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,412,880.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,250 shares of company stock worth $3,339,528 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International Inc operates as a tobacco company working to delivers a smoke-free future and evolving portfolio for the long-term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company's product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products primarily under the IQOS and ZYN brands; and consumer accessories, such as lighters and matches.